Julie Mack | Kalamazoo Gazette OpinionGrowing up, I never paid much attention to my school principals.

That changed when I became a school parent. I quickly realized that principals are hugely important. They set the tone, establish priorities, mold the school culture.

A great principal sets high expectations, nurtures good teaching, and creates fair and consistent rules for behavior. Most important, they put their students first.

By contrast, principals also have the power to demoralize teachers, alienate parents and put the needs of adults over the needs of children. I’ve seen principals run a school into the ground and it’s not pretty.

I remember one principal who repeatedly complained that his biggest problem was the student body. If he could just rid the school of troublemakers, he said, things would be so much better.

It wasn’t much of a surprise when that principal lost his job; after all, the whole point of public education is serving everybody who comes through the door, even the troublemakers. A great principal sees ill-behaved or ill-educated children as a challenge and an opportunity, rather than an irksome burden.

My children have been extraordinarily lucky to have a run of great principals. One of them, Patricia Coles-Chalmers, is retiring next month.

View full sizeGazette | Mark Bugnaski Patricia Coles-ChalmersFor the past nine years, Coles-Chalmers has been the curriculum director for Kalamazoo Public Schools. But before that, she was principal of King-Westwood Elementary School, where I first met her.

Coles-Chalmers ran a tight ship at King-Westwood, and we parents loved that. One of the first times I saw Coles-Chalmers, she was walking through the hall when she passed a student uttering a curse word. Coles-Chalmers wheeled around and gave the girl an icy glare. “WHAT did I hear you saying?” Chalmer asked.

It was intimidating, but awesome at the same time.

However, while Coles-Chalmers knew how to put students in their place, she knew how to shower them with praise and affirmation. I loved that she regarded every child as an individual. More than once, I went to Coles-Chalmers with a complicated child-related problem, and each time she gave the matter considerable thought and attention.

Her dedication was incredible. Seeing the hours that Coles-Chalmers worked gave me huge appreciation for the demands of being a principal. And even working monster hours, Coles-Chalmers went above and beyond to support her kids. More than once, for instance, she would make the two-and-a-half hour drive to Mount Pleasant to see King-Westwood students compete in Destination Imagination.

Coles-Chalmers and my son formed a close bond during his time at King-Westwood. After he left the school, she continued to track his progress through middle and high school and even showed up at his high school graduation party. Last week, he served as a host at her retirement open house.

At a time when education is under the gun, Coles-Chalmers is a model of the hard-working, dedicated educator who cares fiercely about students. KPS will miss her, and so will I.